Lights, Camera, Action...Music: Critiquing Films Using Sight and Sound

Materials and Technology

Printouts

Websites

Preparation

 

MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY

• Good Morning, Vietnam, directed by Barry Levinson (1988)
  
  
• DVD player or VCR
  
  
• Chart paper
  
  
• Student journals

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PRINTOUTS

• Scene Analysis Framework
  
  
• Script Guidelines
  
  
• Presentation Guidelines

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WEBSITES

• Camera Angles: Close-Ups and Long Shots
• An Introduction to Film Sound
• Designing a Movie for Sound
• "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong

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PREPARATION

1.	Familiarize yourself with the movie Good Morning, Vietnam. Set in 1965, this film tells the story of an Air Force disc jockey who has been flown in from another assignment to a post at the center of the conflict in Saigon. Soldiers who listen to his program love it, but one of his superior officers would prefer that the radio show be censored. The segment chosen for this lesson is the one in which the disc jockey, played by Robin Williams, plays the song "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong on his radio show while images of everyday life in wartime Vietnam, many of them violent, play across the screen.
2.	Obtain a copy of the film and a VCR or DVD player for your classroom. You'll want to set up the film at the beginning of the scene, which ends when the song finishes.
3.	Make copies of Camera Angles: Close-Ups and Long Shots, Script Guidelines, Presentation Guidelines, and the lyrics of "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong for the students to use during the lesson. Make two copies of the Scene Analysis Framework for each student in the class.
4.	Make sure that students have permission to use the Internet, following your school policy. If you need to, reserve a session in your school's computer lab. (See Session 3.)
5.	Familiarize yourself with An Introduction to Film Sound and Designing a Movie for Sound. Bookmark these websites on your classroom or lab computers.

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